Sleep Well
by Tsuru-san
Summary: On the way to Media, Tobias and Raphael stop by the Tigris River to rest for the night. Asmodeus pays them a visit. ...onesided AsmodeusRaphael slash...


**AN**: In the Book of Tobit, Raphael journeys with Tobias from Nineveh (Assyria) to Rages (in Media) and helps defeat the demon Asmodeus so this is sort of a "missing scene" of what could've happened while Raphael and Tobias were traveling. Time period set roughly between 680 and 650 BC.

**AN as of 12/24/07**: Okay, this is a new, edited version of "Sleep Well". It's been tidied up and added to a bit, but the general stuff still applies: there is slash and, obviously, I don't own the Bible.

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The Tigris River babbled and flowed as the sun settled below the horizon and night blanketed the world. No breeze marred the tranquility as Raphael and Tobias made ready to sleep; this had certainly been a good spot to camp on the way to Media. For Tobias, the walking had been exhausting thus far, but he had not complained. Raphael, being an angel, had not tired from the physical exertion, but he feigned fatigue now to preserve his pretense of humanity. 

Since he was an angel, Raphael did not need to eat or sleep even when he was in human form; however, both practices did help increase the archangel's strength. Waiting for Tobias to fall asleep first, the angel gazed upward, spring green eyes taking in and relishing the view of twinkling stars set high in the sky's dome. Enveloped by the silent serenity of the night, Raphael soon joined Tobias in slumber. It had been a long time since the angel had enjoyed a good night's rest, and with his travel blanket spread out thick and comfortable beneath him, he paid no mind to the hard and dusty ground.

But all was not quiet or peaceful for long. Near the riverbank, the shadows of a spindly, stunted juniper tree writhed in and amongst themselves. The movement was wholly unnatural, and the tree quivered almost fearfully despite the lack of wind. Breaking away from their sanctioned place at the tree's base, the snaking tendrils began slithering across the ground before finally coalescing into a humanoid shape.

Standing tall and lean almost to the point of emaciation was the snakelike shadow master and Marquis of the Seventh Circle of Hell, the demon Asmodeus. His chalk white skin was in sharp contrast to the black robes that swayed around him along with the shadows. Snake scale patterned armor covered his chest and forearms. Seeing easily in the dark, his garnet eyes gleamed viciously.

"So this is the great Raphael... How interesting..." he purred, seeming to almost float over to the slumbering archangel and his human companion. The demon licked his lips like a wolf eyeing a young lamb, and like any carnivore, the archdemon had wickedly pointed fangs.

Staring down at the messenger Lord Lucifer had warned him of, Asmodeus felt his plans of killing Raphael now fading although the angel was easy prey while asleep in his human guise. A quick blow to the head would end the life of this human body and send the angel back to Heaven, but instead of taking action, Asmodeus hesitated. Truth be told, the demon had been expecting someone more like Michael: fiery and full of fight. Certainly not this genteel healer!

The shadows squirmed more fervently around the hem of Asmodeus's robe. Swirling around his heavy, ebony boots, the dark manifestations were eager to throttle the vulnerable angel and his pesky mortal charge. However, they calmed with a wave of the demon's slim hand. He would kill Raphael...but all in good time. For now, Asmodeus contented himself with drinking in the sleeping angel's enticing appearance. The lithe, elegant form stirred a dark desire within the looming demon. When his mission was completed, he would most certainly have to get "better acquainted" with this graced beauty. Raphael's innocence was most alluring.

_It won't last long though…_ Asmodeus thought wickedly.

It would be so delightful, so _delicious_, to drag the angel down. The archdemon hadn't felt this giddy since Sodom and Gomorrah. Ah, Sodom and Gomorrah. That had been one of Asmodeus's masterpieces to be sure, so much sin and decadence concentrated in those two cities, but this would dwarf the fall of the two cities in a heartbeat. To Fell an angel and an archangel at that... No other demon, not even Lucifer, could boast of such an accomplishment. If Asmodeus could pull it off...

Daring to come even closer, Asmodeus leaned down over his enemy. He simply could not resist the moonlight-bathed face in front of him. Reaching out a slender finger, the pale demon lightly drew a caress along the angel's jaw line and lips as well as brushing back a few stray locks of auburn hair. Raphael shuddered in his sleep as though he could feel the malicious touch, even in his dreams. However, despite the unholy presence so close to him, he did not wake.

"Sleep well," Asmodeus hissed as he pulled back and disappeared once more, already plotting what he would do when he had the fair angel in his clutches.

-fin-


End file.
